One man's trash ... is another man's trash

Microtrash is always a big problem, and rare is the trip I take without coming home with a cargo-pants pocket full of it.  Common offenders are cigarette butts, corners of Clif/Snickers/Nature Valley bars, crumbs of those ubiquitous blue foam pads, and the occasional bandaid.  Note, I never pick up toilet paper, so ladies, please try and pee farther away than right next to the trail.

Macrotrash is a little more of an interesting dilemma.   You see either modern dumpsites at trailheads (tires, beer cans) or you find 'historic' items rusting away at an old cabin site, or the remains of a can dump at an old shelter.   Sometimes its piles of trash, and unsightly, or its in high traffic areas where it encourages more trash.   Here's a case where a very busy caretaker in the Maine Applachian Trail Club cleaned up a massive amount of really bad trash.   I helped carry down some big rusty iron bits on my way down the Firewarden's Trail (totally overwhelming my pack's suspension, but worth it).
http://www.matc.org/assets/Resolved-Refuse-Removal-ATJourneys-MarApr2014.pdf


I can live with some of it, things like this I found in the desert of southern California.   It adds a certain atmosphere, and has some historical value.   This area was actively mined for gold.

But what kills me is the modern "woodsman's" trash.  Plastic garbage bags left behind.   Propane cannisters.   Toilet paper.  5 gallon buckets of poop.   Benches, tables, chairs hacked together with local lumber and plywood.   When I was a caretaker on the AT in Maine, I once packed out nearly a full black trashbag, just from a single hike ~40 miles and hitting 3 shelters.  Unacceptable!

These are the things that say "This area is actively used.   It is not wild, whatever you thought you were going to see.   It's a campsite, a playground, a city park.   It's to be used and consumed, not preserved or saved for the next person.   We beat you to it, so suck it."

Leaving no trace in paradise

Digging through some old hiking photos from Hawaii, I was struck how similar the trail is to New England, despite having probably 1/100 of the traffic.   That volcanic soil just can't take the abuse, similar to the thin layer of soil on top of the mineral soils covering the mountains of the Northeast.  Just like how in alpine zones like Marcy, Washington, Saddleback and Katahdin one step off the trail does irreparable damage, the terrain on relatively 'new' land like the Hawaiian islands is fragile.

First you have jackasses like this.   Despite a marked trail, an easy trail that doesn't need poles, a sign to stay on the trail, these  two decided to take a break off the trail to adjust.   The terrain seems hardly fragile, but it's the sense of wildness you're looking to preserve.   If you end up with footbeds all over the lava, then its not a cool dormant crater anymore, its a city park.

On Kauai, in the Waimea Canyon park, there's a long trail that runs through jungle then along the coast.    Here you have a hip-deep trail, and a "bonus" trail along the side, probably created by sneaker-wearing hikers in the wet season.   If you #PlanAheadAndPrepare you have the right shoes.

When the trail is eroded like this, you want to stay on it - and you can see the subtle psychological pressure to keep away from the edge; the soil is getting compacted as the trail erodes.

These are the only legitimate ones allowed to go off-trail.   Partially because they live here, partially because they have four wheel drive.

It's important to leave the land in the condition you've found it, as you owe it to the guy behind you.   Let him have his experience, just as you had yours, and perhaps next time, someone will leave something for you.

And then there were three

A northern white rhino has died in a zoo in the US, leaving 3 left in the world (in Kenya).

The remaining ones are locked away in a preserve, so that men with small penises will not kill them and consume their horns.

http://www.olpejetaconservancy.org/wildlife/rhinos/northern-white-rhinos/

How many is enough?    Consider supporting the Ol Pejeta Preserve.

November hiking - Ampersand, Seymour, Tabletop and Rocky Peak Ridge

Hitting the summit of Rocky Peak Ridge on November 17, 2015, I finished all 46 of the Adirondack High Peaks.   24+ years in the making, done.   I can't believe it, but I'm already planning my next trip - a 5 day traverse of the whole High Peaks region, from Coreys to Elizabethtown.

I arrived at the Ampersand trail head at around noon on Saturday, and immediately was struck by the cold.  I brought both spikes and snowshoes, not knowing what to expect.  The first section of trail was easy, smooth sailing over the frozen mud.  And then the climb began.   I switched to spikes about halfway up.

 

The summit was brutal, I met a bunch of other hikers on the way who didn't go all the way up.  Wind and fog, rime ice everywhere.

Back down around 3, just enough time to head to the cafe in Lake Placid for a sandwich, then back to the trailhead to camp.   There's a supposedly pay campsite on the shore of Middle Saranac Lake, but it was off-season.  An easy .6 miles (wearing orange because it's hunting season, and I found a nice out-of-the-wind spot for the tent.   The wind off the lake was chilly, to say the least.

The next morning I drove through Coreys and parked.  Surprisingly, there were people there ahead of me.   The 5.4 miles into Ward Brook Leanto were a cakewalk - frozen trail, beautiful sun on the frozen trees, milder weather, no wind.  Really just perfect hiking.

Then the fun began, the 'trailless' climb up.   It was mostly obvious, I got turned around only twice.

The ice on the blown out rock slides was vicious, some places an inch thick.  Thank you Microspikes!

Back down, only wiping out once or twice, and back to the car by 4.   At this point I drove back through Lake Placid to the Ausable Inn in Keene Valley for a beer and some dinner.   Then on to Meadows Lane outside the Adirondak Loj, where I tented alone, and in the dark under headlamp.   It's free camping on DEC land, this time of year totally deserted.  Normally the sites are all taken, as you can't camp at the Loj.

Parked at the Loj and started in on what might be my last hike for a while.   Mixed emotions when I got to Marcy Dam and remembered how it used to be a beautiful lake. 

Up the Van Hoevenberg highway to the 'unmarked' trail (complete with sign) to Tabletop.   Hop skip and a jump up, and I was there.    Great weather, little wind, bright sun.  Awesome views.

Back to Indian Falls right around noon for lunch, where again I had mixed emotions.  How many times had I drawn water there, or stopped and rested for lunch?

Back down the highway to the Dam for a long rest in the sun.   By now it was close to 50 degrees, and the trails over the last few days had turned into swamps in the afternoon sun, so the boots were soaked.  Took about an hour rest including a nap on the old dam, while my feet dried.   Sadly saddled up, and took a slow stroll back to the car, right as the temps really started to sink.

A hiker told me "tonight the temperatures are really going to drop" - no way I was camping in the cold again, so I hit the hostel in Keene Valley.   At this time of year it was empty, but they also hadn't done laundry, and the beds weren't made.   Weak, for $25, if you ask me.   At night, and on Monday nights especially, the town of Keene Valley essentially closes, so it was a quiet dinner of mac and cheese in the hostel.
Up at 6, on the road by 6:30, I got to the Chapel Pond trailhead for Giant at about 7.

Climbing Giant is like doing a 3 mile stairmaster, it's 3 miles and 3000 feet up.   That qualifies as 'steep' in my book.

Here's the Washbowl, frozen.  Up, up, more up, some great exposed ledges where the sun was melting the ice, and up some more to the junction.   A sharp right, and you head down a goat path towards Rocky Peak Ridge.   Took a serious wipeout on the way down, as the spikes failed me, and I went head over heels and crashed at the bottom of a rock face.   Ouch.   Pretty icicles though.

Through a nice col and a short climb up, and I hit the summit.   Done!   After 24 years, I'd hit all the High Peaks.   Beautiful weather, 45-50, not a breath of wind, no clouds.

This is why I saved this for last.  This exact scenario.  The view of everything.

On the way down, again skipping Giant (having done it), I took a page from Frost and from Baggins, and took the Roaring Brook Trail down towards St. Huberts.   Much easier, and beautiful hiking through immense pines.   Highly recommended over the Zander trail.   Got to the parking area near St. Huberts at around 3.   5 minutes and 9 cars later, my hiker trash karma kicked in, and I got a hitch back to my car, and then signed out.   At this point, so tired, so hungry.  And by now the sun had dipped behind the peaks, and it was FREEZING.  I had 1 more thing to do on the way to Keene Valley for dinner; there's a huge waterfall on the road near St. Huberts, but the sun almost never hits it - that is, unless it's late afternoon.   Perfect timing!

Boy the Adirondacks are beautiful.
 


    Upon the hearth the fire is red,
    Beneath the roof there is a bed;
    But not yet weary are our feet,
    Still round the corner we may meet
    A sudden tree or standing stone
    That none have seen but we alone.
--Bilbo Baggins


Fall and late Fall hiking are now my favorite time to be up there - despite the cold, you have the trails to yourself, there's no bugs, and if you catch the weather right, there's nothing better.

It's been amazing, boiling water at Lake Colden back when you could have fires there, climbing the Trapdike, doing the Dix Slide as my first trailless peak, finding out after I did it that there was a thing called The Great Range, watching sports and arguing politics with people in the Ausable Inn, and having summit after summit to myself over the years.  A great adventure.

American Kleptocracy

Q: What happens when the government sells a resource cheaply, paying even for its transportation, to someone who has connections with the Department of the Interior?

A: 1794 federally protected wild horses get shipped to Mexico and eaten.

I've realized that this is an excellent metaphor for 21st century America.   Or a banana republic.   Or something out of Book 3 of Atlas Shrugged.

• According to the allegations and news reports, Mr. Davis also had farming and trucking connections with former Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. 
• Mr. Davis admitted that most of the horses that he purchased through the BLM went to slaughter. 
• The agency also did not stop selling horses to Mr. Davis after receiving reports that he was sending the horses to slaughter. 
• The OIG declined to investigate Mr. Davis‘ ties to Mr. Salazar. 
• The investigation was referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado as well as the State of Colorado Conejos County District Attorney’s Office, which declined civil and criminal prosecution (emphasis mine), according to the report. 

So who gets fired here, and who goes to jail?   Nobody, unless people are prepared to fight back.


Link here:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/24/blm-illegally-sold-thousands-wild-horses-slaughter/

Some more links about wild horse management.   Arguably they're invasive, and arguably burros are more so.   A certain amount of management is needed, but simply handing over 100s of thousands of dollars to a rancher is not "management".

Ridgecrest Regional Wild Horse & Burro Corrals 
Burros Inadvertently Save Life Of Hiker Lost In Death Valley National Park

Photo at top taken from the Sierra Institute's blog.   Note that I have no relation to them, and based on their blog, would never.  Hint: you don't take wild watercress from a spring in a desert - the wild horses and other animals you rhapsodize about are depending on it.

Walk in the Woods - and bring your flak jacket

It was a beautiful day, so I did some tramping in the uplands behind the property.   It's old farmland, now regrown, and logged for hardwoods about 25 years ago.   Great old stone walls, some interesting ruts and leftover trees from the logging operations, and some trails - some manmade, some machinemade, and some game trails.

Nice, right?

I kept walking, encountering a few beer cans along the way, and then this:

Kind of a buzzkill.
Folks, clean up after yourself, the next guy deserves the same experience you do.

Hurricane!

Getting ready for Joaquin here on the farm.

• Candles
• Full tank of diesel in the car
• Beer
• Extra hay for the goats
• Propane for the genny (more on that!)
• Charging the phones and tablets

We have a good 6kW propane powered generator.   It's your standard Chinese clone, but it does put out 220, so I've piped it into the house and we have all the basics covered - heat (if needed), hot water, well, sewer pump, fridge.   If we do lose power I estimate about 24 hours continuously at 1/2 load given our propane supply.   Next year I'll move the circuit to the top of the panel, and we'll have everything powered.

What I discovered today is that some sort of insect decided to nest in the tube connecting the gas fitting to the carb.   Of course that was AFTER I pulled the plug twice, tested for spark, went and got a battery so I could use electric start... nothing, except a bunch of goop in the fuel line.

Disassembled the fuel line, ran a rat-tail file down it a few times to clean out the crud, and shazam, 6kW of sweet, sweet power.

Moral: if you keep your generator outside, plug up all the holes.

The animals will all be inside - the stall doors bolt, and I'm tying the main doors closed to prevent them acting like a sail.   The chickens should be fine, it's not cold enough yet for the wind to be a factor inside the barn.

Heirloom apples, heirloom cider

I have 3 ancient apple trees, and they're starting to drop.   All have seen better days, and the gypsy moths hit one of them pretty hard.   Before the apples really get gross on the ground (and become goat food) I've started scavenging them.  It's a nice tradeoff between losing a few to rot and not having to do the work to pick them.   The trees give me them when they're ready.   Strangely, the sickest looking tree, the oldest and wisest one, also has the most obviously ripe apples up top - either that or it has fewer leaves to conceal the apples.

You won't get apples like this in the store, because they're small and gross, but they're 100% organic, and free.

If anyone reading this knows what kind they are, I'd appreciate the info.   I'm thinking macintosh, and something else, the stripey ones are definitely different apples.

After trimming the gross bits off and running them through the Breville, I get this:

Probably 6 ounces after pouring off the foam.   I'll lose a little more when it settles, too.   If I get an entire gallon, I'll count myself lucky.   I'll add some ale yeast later, and then race it against some unpasteurized cider I get from a local orchard (http://www.phantomfarms.com/) to see which comes out the best.   Hint: if you use champagne yeast you get a deadly combination of apple, bubbles, and super high ABV.   Be prepared for a nap after drinking.   That's why I go with ale yeast, I want something around 6%.

Late summer - Let the Canning begin!

The cherry tomatoes are going full speed these days, so I took 4 quarts of them and decided to save them as sauce.   Since I'm the only one eating it, I get to make it how I like.

All fresh from the garden this year, I'm doing:
yellow cherry tomatoes
a few red tomatoes that happened to be ripe

yellow squash
zucchini
red onion
basil
garlic
olive oil

The olive oil is the only thing I couldn't make myself.   Maybe when I finish the grape jelly in a few weeks, I could try making grapeseed oil.... but probably not.

Given that there's non-tomato stuff in the sauce, I figured I'd need to pressure can it, so I skipped the vinegar/lemon juice.

Half the batch, with the pressure cooker warming up in the back.   Electric stoves just don't have the punch that gas ones do.   It took around 20 minutes to go from boiling up to 10psi.

I ended up with quarts of sauce, a little watery since I didn't simmer it down endlessly (not wanting to mush the zucchini).

Growing your own food and canning it is a great way to reduce your Trace - you can use your own composted scraps as soil ammendment, the vegetables don't travel via truck anywhere, you're reusing the canning jars, and come winter you have a healthy sauce (all my stuff is organic) with no extra sugar, thickeners, or crap.

When it's 101 degrees, bring water

RIP parents who gave their kid the last of their water.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11793114/French-couple-killed-in-New-Mexico-desert-saved-their-son-with-last-drops-of-water.html

Plan Ahead And Prepare!

Rhubarb Wine III: The Drinking

Poured off a cup, it tastes like cheap white wine.   Thin.   Almost no rhubarb taste or smell.

Wine: 1
Ed: 0

Next up, wine from the concord grapes all over the property.   Last summer I put up about 4 quarts of jam, and we have leftovers, and I gave some away, so I clearly don't need this many grapes.

A time to cut, a time to buck, a time to split and a time to stack

The first foggy cool morning of the summer reminded me that it won't last forever, so I've been trying to get the woodpile sorted.   I have about 2 cords set up so far, and another cord in the big pile that's starting to season.  I enjoy cutting and splitting the wood, the smell and feel of it, it's good exercise, and the idea that I'm recycling the carbon that I just exhaled makes me smile.

It's funny how people sell "semi-seasoned" wood - hint: if it's not seasoned, it's green.   The wood guy, nice guy, good price, good wood, delivered a mostly oak cord at about 28% MC inside the splits.  It should at least burn this fall, perhaps not well, but I do get a lot of sun and a strong crosswind.

Here's the small pile, with some big rounds submerged in it that I don't want to think about splitting just yet.

(Yes that's the old outhouse down the hill)

Stacked carelessly around are the bits of wood and fenceposts which help form my tarp system which I'll implement come November.   The composter isn't part of the system, it was just in the way.

Fully loaded and squared, this will be about 4 cords - 4 rows of splits, 4' high and 24' long.
Note that a cord is 128 cubic feet, generally stacked in 3 rows of 16" splits, 4' high and 8' long.  The rows of splits should be stacked with space enough for a squirrel to pass through, but not enough for the cat behind it.   This is mostly maple, with some oak, white pine and white birch mixed in.

The big pile up the hill will be another 5 cords.  If can I can burn 4 cords over the winter, I burn almost no oil, save that what I need for hot water.   I usually burn hard until I have about 1/2 cord left, then depending on the season, put the brakes on, leaving that as my emergency, you-have-no-heat scenario.   I have a genny for the furnace, but it's loud and irritating.

I had some apple that I cut this spring, bucked and stacked but not split.   I tested the ends of the rounds with the moisture meter and got about 9%.   I tested by piercing the bark and got almost 50%.   Splitting one 4" round, the inside was at 30%.   The pieces were so small, I assumed I wouldn't need to split them, but given that, it looks like I'll have to.   You should be at 10-20% MC.   Too dry and the wood burns too fast and hot, too wet (above 20) and it hisses.  Above 25 and you boil sap out the ends!

Apple, glorious, fragrant, high BTU apple - cut from my reclaimed heirloom trees:

Some links which I've found useful:
http://mb-soft.com/juca/print/firewood.html

I'd add my affiliate link to the Amazon page for the moisture meter that I bought, but they wouldn't let me.  A good one shouldn't be more than $30.   Google it.

I love to talk firewood, ask me any questions.

Bison: 1, Woman: 0

Genius discovers that wild animals are wild.


"...they knew they were doing something wrong but thought it was OK because other people were nearby..."

Translation: "I'm choosing to be irresponsible because others will step in to save me."

Best part:

"They tried to run, but the bison caught the woman and tossed her with its head."

It's a 2000lb animal which can run at 30mph.   No human can outrun one.  Ever.   Don't try.

http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/bison-injures-woman-posing-for-selfie-at-yellowstone/article_d8f595b5-3a25-582c-a0a9-c002033408da.html

More competitors for the Darwin award: http://www.yellowstonepark.com/2015/05/teen-gored-bison/

Adirondack Trip - Street, Nye, Allen and Cliff

This past weekend I knocked off 4 more of the High Peaks, all "trailless" - which means no signs, and no maintenance, but hardly a bushwhack.

Pics are here:
https://vmeps.schernau.com/photos/main.php?g2_itemId=1545

I started parked at South Meadows about a mile from the Adirondak Loj, hiked the road, then climbed up Street & Nye.   Generally an uninspiring, easy hike, there was an interesting ford required due to high water and recent rain.   Fords are always fun, especially ones where the blackflies are not devouring you as you precariously cross.   Minimal view, and plenty of insects once you stopped moving.   Met a few people.  The nice thing about using a small daypack is that you can travel fast and light, I actually snuck up on someone sitting eating lunch I was moving so smoothly.

Got back to the car by about 6, decided not to camp as it looked wet.   Drove to the Hostel in Keene Valley where I've stayed many times, and crashed late, after staying up talking to some rock climbers.

Next day drove way around to the Works in Newcomb, parked the car, and began the start of the 16 mile day including Allen, and ending at the Flowed Lands.   Several significant fords, and the most schizophrenic trail I've hiked - alternating sections of smooth old woods road, and 20' wide muddy quagmires.  Once you hit the slide, you're walking up bare rock, or better, bare rock with water flowing over it.  I wiped out significantly only once.   Minimal view, and horrific bugs at the top.

Back down and across another ford, and a long gradual slog uphill to the Flowed Lands, where the last and biggest ford awaited.

Camped near the Flowed Lands Lean-To, then early in the morning daypacked up Opalescent Brook to Cliff - another muddy, trailless mess.   Socked in completely with clouds and fog, it was a fun climb with some interesting rock scrambles.

Back down the old closed trail and another ford down Calamity Brook, did some skinny-dipping and de-funkifying, and got back to the car in time to drive to Keene Valley for dinner.

5 stars, would do again (maybe sometime)

Weighed in the scales and (not?) found wanting

Heading up to the Adirondacks again, and I thought I'd weigh in, literally.   We bought a kitchen scale recently to help with big batches of canning, and it has a good capacity and resolution.   And its a quiet, hazy afternoon, nothing better than getting your gear sorted.

(Jake the Wonder Dog assisting)

Short version: Base weight = just under 14 lbs, although I didn't include water carrying - my 70oz camelback, my 1L Platypus and my 1L nalgene.   Google tells me that these weigh approx 5oz, 1oz and 6oz respectively. Adding this all in pushes it up close to 14lbs.  Factoring in a few odds and ends and my car keys & wallet, lets call it 15lbs.   Not bad.   It doesn't include clothes, but the only things generally that sit in the pack are a pair of extra socks, a knit hat, and a rain jacket.  If you don't wear it daily, it's a waste.

I've included a link to my pack list on a Google Spreadsheet here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oCVW3B8WjOjlplQMycklFiQ-qJs_H5toccit7ec3vck/edit?usp=sharing

This includes both my stove and my bear cannister @ 2lbs11oz (heaviest thing I have).   When packing up in the Adirondacks, the Eastern High Peaks zone requires bear cannisters for overnight camping, so I leave the stove at home.   The other option you have is only do day-hikes, but there's something magical waking up in the mountains in the middle of the night, or being able to hit the trail at 5am.

Keeping your pack weight down is an important part of being a responsible hiker - you're less likely to get tired, less likely to 'cheat' and grab at trees or widen muddy areas, less likely to get hurt and need rescue, and you're bringing less trash which could be left behind.   Slipping quietly along the trail and creating a minimalist campsite (small tent, muted colors, little or no cooking) means that you're not affecting the animals or others seeking their own experience.

Hello gypsy moth caterpillars, now please go die

Following their own mysterious ways, gypsy moths are back in RI.

My poplars and apple trees seem particularly tasty to them; to date I've probably killed several hundred.   I tried dusting the trunks with diatomaceous earth, but that didn't seem to help.  The most effective way to get rid of them was sadly manual and well, brutal.   With my trusty Buck 55, go out just around dusk where they all congregate on the bottom of tree branches or the shady side of tree trunks, and behead them all, one at a time.   It's gross, the bigger instars tend to 'pop'.

Today (too late, long story) I put on some Tanglefoot around 1 poplar as a test.   I fear most of the caterpillars are pupating now, but I should catch some of the big ones.  It's a messy, stick task, and on poplar trees it especially sucks due to their rough bark; I had to stuff cotton balls under the saran wrap so that the critters couldn't simply crawl under it.

Here's a picture of what it looks like:

Here's the rest of my non-chemical arsenal:
diatomaceous earth - crawlies
copper foil - slugs
neem oil & sprayer - winged leaf-eaters

Apparently I'm not the only one fighting caterpillars this year, according to the Northern RI Conservation District team, it's everywhere.   Here's another link:

http://www.ecori.org/natural-resources/2015/6/23/gypsy-moth-caterpillars-take-ri-by-storm

Rhubarb Wine II: The Settling

As I previously mentioned on Google Plus (here) I'm making rhubarb wine based on the recipe I found here.   The must went in sweet and slightly syrupy, and I was afraid I was making sugar water.   I siphoned off the liquid today, getting a faceful of alcohol and yeast odors, and just over a gallon of pale, cloudy yellow wine.

It's strong, like a good dry Pinot Grigio, but only with a hint of rhubarb.   I worry that the grape concentrate and sugar are basically overwhelming the rhubarb.   We'll see in another few weeks or so when secondary fermentation completes and it clears.

I might do some campden tablets + juice (strawberry?) to give it some sugar and color.

Put up the first of the frozen kale

Snipped the stems (and fed them to the goats), chopped it into 2" sections, boiled for 2 minutes then dumped into an ice bath.   Spun them dry in my salad spinner, then laid them out on a cookie sheet in the freezer overnight.   The next morning, they all went into a 1 gallon ziplock.   Sucked the air out and sealed it.    This is probably 3 servings right here.   I think I have about 60 more servings in the garden.   Kale's easy to grow (just water it, give it a dusting of diatomaceous earth for bugs) and nutritious.   It's more of an add-on, I wouldn't eat it plain, but added to soups, bean dishes and as a side dish it's excellent.   Plus, since I grew it, no pesticides.

Foster Earth Day Cleanup, part 2

The results are in:

We did about 275 people and we disposed of 20,407 pounds of household hazardous waste, included was 9 thermostats and  15 pounds of mercury, 150 pounds of bulbs, 75 pounds of CFLs and 15 pounds of sharps.  Also this number does not include any paint disposed of under the Paintcare program (probably another 12,000 pounds)!

It cost the town nothing - but the RI Resource Recovery Corp spent almost $15000 to run this.

Thanks residents of Foster!

Natural garden pest control

As the garden is under siege from leaf miners, potato beetles and slugs, and the apples are under attack from tent and gypsy moth caterpillars, I've decided to get into natural pest control methods.

Slugs were the most interesting.   They were doing a number on my strawberries, and last year devoured my cucumber seedlings in 1 night.   I read that you can leave a board on the ground, and they'll crawl under it.   Then you simply pick up the board and get rid of the slugs.   Since it takes > 1 day for a slug to grow, if you do this daily after a few days you've knocked down the lion's share of the slugs.   In dry weather I had no luck, only crickets seemed interested in hiding under the board.   After yesterday's rain, however, I went out and saw this on the bottom of the board:

 

I figured I'd let the circle of life complete, so I brought the board up to the chix.   Oddly, they weren't terribly interested.   But after I put some scratch on the board, they came racing over.

Later I went back up and almost all the slugs were gone, so I think they got the idea.

The apple trees are getting devoured by tent caterpillars, and today I saw them on the poplars as well.  So I busted out the Neem oil, mixed up a gallon and sprayed everything that I could reach.

I did the plants in the garden as well; eggplant, squash/zucchini, pumpkin, potatoes, hot peppers and strawberries.   I skipped the onions, garlic and carrots since they seemed immune.  So, I either killed the plants, or in a few days when the bugs eat the plants, they'll drop dead.   But, it's better than spraying poison.

I'm also going to put Tanglefoot on as a way to keep the trees safe from the caterpillars.

 

First fruits

Before the hot weather causes it all to bolt (rhubarb is long bolted) we trimmed what we could for dinner tonight.   6 spinach and 6 chard plants are in the ground, more chard on the way, although with this heat I'm not sure how well it will do.

 

Gardening is a great way to get exercise, clear your mind, reduce your grocery bill, and help prepare yourself for financial or other problems you may encounter.  Being able to grow at least part of your food increases your independence and self-reliability - something this country needs more of.

Adirondack Trip May 2015

4 down, 7 out of 46 to go.

I got up to Keene Valley at about 10am on Saturday, rented one of those bear cannisters at The Mountaineer, then drove back S to the Elk Lake Preserve to hike Macomb.   A nice flat trail, wet, and then the slide started.   It wasn't a pure rock slide, it was all sand and football sized chunks of rock.   Only twisted the ankle once, but fell multiple times... only bled twice.

The trip back to the car was uneventful, and on the drive back to KV, I saw a moose!   First time seeing one in the Adirondacks, believe it or not.

Saturday night I was reacquainted with the joys of hostel living, as 4 French Canadians rolled in at about 1130, and THEN thought it would be a good idea to look for where they kept their clothes, toothbrushes, etc.

Woke Sunday at 5, on the trail by 6.   Did:

• Roostercomb
• Hedgehog
• Lower Wolfjaw
• Upper Wolfjaw
• Armstrong
• Gothics
• Pyramid
• Sawteeth
• Indian Head

Then finally camped near Gill Brook outside the AMR land.  My Topo! software says that was about 11 miles, but adding up trail signs and a bit of reckoning puts it more at 15.   A brutal day, I don't recall being this tired in a long time.   Topo claims this was 6984' up and 5776' down.   It kicked my ass, whatever it was.  12 hours to do somewhere like 15 miles + 7000 of vertical isn't too bad, I suppose.

Slept 9 hours, and woke up to the beautiful sounds of Gill Brook and its feeder streams in my own private campsite - really May is a great time to hit the mountains.   You're right between the worst of the mud and the bugs, and there's nobody there.

Slogged up the trail with a daypack to do Colvin and Blake, supposedly an "easy" trail.   Either I was tired, or the 40-something asthmatic woman who told me that it was easy is more badass than I gave her credit for, or both.   It was not easy, AND, Blake had a crap summit.   Colvin was nice though, great views.  Then it was back down, pack up the camp, and an actually easy hike down the Lake Road cutoff trail, and then the road itself.   Beautiful hiking, saw a couple of deer, nice flowers everywhere, and HUGE trees.   That area must not have been logged in a long time.

Here's the pictures.

https://vmeps.schernau.com/photos/main.php?g2_itemId=1433